The Crimean Mountains consist of three subranges. The highest is the Main range. The Main range is subdivided into several massives, known as yaylas or mountain plateaus (Yayla is Crimean Tatar for "Alpine Meadow"). They are:

Archaeologists have found the earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe in the Crimean mountains' Buran-Kaya caves. The fossils are 32,000 years old, with the artifacts linked to the Gravettian culture. The fossils have cut marks suggesting a post-mortem defleshing ritual.[1][2]